Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma, Renal Cell"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin may also stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin works in treating patients with metastatic kidney cancer.

This treatment protocol allows doctors to treat advanced kidney cancer with an investigational drug called sorafenib, BAY43-9006, which is being studied in clinical trials for kidney cancer and other kinds of cancer. This treatment protocol is not a clinical trial in which sorafenib is compared to another equal treatment. All patients in this protocol will be treated with sorafenib. In addition, data from the patients who participate in this protocol will provide additional information about the drug.

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. It is not yet known whether monoclonal antibody therapy is effective in treating kidney cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying monoclonal antibody therapy to see how well it works in treating patients who have undergone surgery for nonmetastatic primary kidney cancer.

The primary objective of this study is efficacy. The primary efficacy endpoint of this study is a comparison of the overall survival of subjects treated with CCI-779 [Temsirolimus], administered intravenously [IV] once weekly and the combination of CCI-779, administered IV once weekly with Interferon Alfa [IFN alfa] subcutaneously [SC] three times per week [TIW], compared with the overall survival of subjects treated with IFN alfa (SC TIW) alone, in poor-prognosis subjects with advanced RCC.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin and gemcitabine, use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving doxorubicin together with gemcitabine works in treating patients with locally recurrent or metastatic unresectable renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer).

This study will examine whether the experimental drug BMS 247550 (Ixabepilone) is an effective treatment for kidney cancer. BMS 247550 belongs to a class of drugs called epothilones that interfere with the ability of cancer cells to divide. In the way they kill cells, they are very similar to a class of compounds known as the taxanes, which include the drug Taxol. Other characteristics of the epothilones, however, enable them to work in cells that are resistant to Taxol. Patients 18 years of age or older with kidney cancer that has not spread to the central nervous system (unless the brain tumor has remained stable for at least six months after surgical or radiation treatment) may be eligible for this study. Pregnant or nursing women may not participate. Candidates are screened with various tests that may include blood and urine tests, electrocardiogram (EKG), and chest x-ray. Computerized tomography (CT) scans or X-rays, and possibly nuclear medicine studies may be done to determine the extent of disease. Participants receive BMS 247550 by a 1-hour infusion into a vein for 5 consecutive days (days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) of each 21-day treatment cycle. Patients must stay in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) area near Bethesda, Maryland, for 7 to 8 days during the first treatment cycle and for the 5 days of treatment in subsequent cycles. The total number of cycles will vary among patients, depending on their individual clinical situation. The drug dose may be increased gradually in subsequent cycles in patients who can tolerate such increases. In addition, participants undergo the following tests and procedures: Periodic physical examinations and frequent blood tests X-ray and other imaging studies to determine if the tumor is responding to the treatment. Tumor biopsies to confirm the diagnosis or spread of tumor and to examine the reaction of certain proteins in cancer cells to BMS 247550. Two biopsies will be done. For this procedure, a small piece of tumor tissue is withdrawn through a needle under local anesthetic. Treatment will be stopped in patients whose tumor grows while receiving BMS 247550. Patients whose tumor disappears completely will be followed at NIH periodically for examinations and tests. Patients whose disease does not completely resolve or whose disease recurs may be advised of other appropriate research protocols at NIH or, if none are available, will be returned to the care of their local doctor.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of PS-341 in treating patients who have metastatic kidney cancer.

RATIONALE: Interferon alfa-2b may interfere with the growth of the cancer cells. Thalidomide may stop the growth of cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor. It is not yet known if interferon alfa-2b is more effective with or without thalidomide in treating kidney cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of interferon alfa-2b with or without thalidomide in treating patients who have previously untreated metastatic or unresectable kidney cancer.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide and fludarabine, before a donor peripheral blood stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of tumor cells. It may also stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining tumor cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Giving an infusion of the donor's T cells (donor lymphocyte infusion) after the transplant may help increase this effect. Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving cyclosporine with or without mycophenolate mofetil or methotrexate after the transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well peripheral stem cell transplant works in treating patients with metastatic kidney cancer.

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of bryostatin 1 in treating patients who have metastatic kidney cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.